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Oliver Twist was one of Charles Dickens’ earliest novels, and it remains his most popular. Its beloved characters quickly became cultural archetypes and have remained so for more than 170 years.

At the time of its release, Oliver’s plight affected the Victorian cultural perception of childhood, poverty and the dispossessed. No longer could these be ignored by the ‘haves’ in society.

Walter Mason, vice-president of the NSW Dickens Society, examines why Dickens was so interested in the dark underbelly of 19th century London, and how this remarkable novel managed to capture so evocatively the state of society right at the very beginning of the Victorian era.